{"id":145283,"date":"2026-02-25T21:37:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T21:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/145283\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T21:37:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T21:37:38","slug":"asiyah-womens-center-supports-survivors-of-intimate-partner-violence-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/145283\/","title":{"rendered":"Asiyah Women\u2019s Center supports survivors of intimate partner violence \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asiyah Women\u2019s Center,<\/a> one of the winners of the Brooklyn Org\u2019s 2026 Spark Prize, is New York City\u2019s first emergency shelter dedicated to providing sanctuary, advocacy, and mental health and housing support for survivors of intimate partner violence from the AMEMSA (Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian), and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On average, 1 out of every 3 American Muslim women experiences intimate partner violence, and since its founding in 2018, the organization has assisted over 1000 women and families, 94% of whom identify as members of the AMEMSA or BIPOC communities.<\/p>\n

According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline<\/a>, nearly 3 in 10 women (29%) in the US have experienced rape, physical violence, and\/or stalking by a partner. An analysis by the Violence Policy Center<\/a> found that in 2023, at least 2,412 females were killed by males in single-victim\/single-offender incident in the U.S. The report said women are far more likely to be killed by their spouse, an intimate acquaintance, or a family member than a stranger. Nearly nine times as many females were murdered by a male they knew (1,861 victims) than were killed by male strangers (209 victims).<\/p>\n

\"asiyahThe Asiyah Women\u2019s Center is New York City\u2019s first shelter for AMEMSA and BIPOC survivors of domestic violence. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Org\/Paul Frangipane<\/p>\n

Shaniyat Turani, a development and program specialist at Asiyah Women\u2019s Center<\/a>, told Brooklyn Paper that the center supported survivors of intimate partner violence with a culturally sensitive, trauma-informed approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer immediate crisis intervention, safe housing, and comprehensive support services that really help women and children transition from immediate danger to stability with a lot of dignity and independence going forward,\u201d Turani explained.<\/p>\n

The organization provides emergency shelter to about 100 women and children a year, who typically stay for 20-30 days \u2014 though Turani explained, the length of stay varies depending on the client\u2019s need for extra or long-term support. Asiyah helps them in finding permanent housing, jobs, and offers free, trauma-informed, and faith-conscious mental health and health services for survivors of domestic violence, forced migration, and refugee trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will host [survivors] as long as we need to, until they\u2019re ready to transition,\u201d Turani said. \u201cIn some cases, there can be clients who may just need a few days or a week before you know they are able to find a more permanent stay for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one case, a pregnant single mother stayed with the organization for over a year. Asiyah Women\u2019s Center supported her throughout her pregnancy and postpartum journey. Currently, her newborn is in the NICU, and even though she\u2019s transitioned out of the shelter, the organization still supports her with much-needed aid.<\/p>\n

\"women'sAsiyah help residents transition out to permanent homes and jobs. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Org\/Paul Frangipane<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not permanently living at the shelter anymore, but we\u2019ve been able to help her get the help she needs, whether through medical care for her and her child, getting her food, and making sure she\u2019s eating,\u201d Turani said. \u201cShe\u2019s receiving Uber rides to the hospital to go visit her child. So it\u2019s really helping them every step of the way, even beyond transitioning out of the shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team of licensed social workers not only supports survivors who need emergency housing but also provides assistance with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and legal services, among other services.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, identifying what those needs are, our social work team does an extraordinary job in helping them walk through every step of the way to ensure that whatever they need in the immediate is being tended to,\u201d Turani said.<\/p>\n

He shared one of the center\u2019s success stories with Brooklyn Paper. One of the center\u2019s clients fled an abusive relationship with her two daughters, and her family sided with her husband.<\/p>\n

They arrived at the center with basically nothing, Turani recalled. After receiving support and needed resources, they \u201care back on their feet,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis mother has gone back to school, she\u2019s getting her degrees, she\u2019s working full time job, being able to provide for herself and her two young daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Receiving the 2026 Spark Prize was a huge honor, Turani noted, and showed how \u201cbeautiful and colorful\u201d Brooklyn is.
\n\"asiyahAsiyah Women\u2019s Center founder Dania Darwish. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Org\/Paul Frangipane\n<\/p>\n

\u201cTo feel like our communities are being seen, especially in a time where, you know, there\u2019s constant attacks and discrimination from the federal government against Muslim communities, immigrant communities, it shows that we are here and we\u2019re here to stay, and that we\u2019re taking care of one another, and the Spark prize really sort of solidifies our story and our mission,\u201d Turani shared<\/p>\n

In light of federal funding cuts for nonprofits across the country, the Sparks Prize comes at a critical moment and brings the organization one step closer to securing a second location and expanding the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cReceiving grants like this really does get us one step closer to making sure that we have the right infrastructure in place.\u00a0 So it\u2019s definitely let us breathe a little bit in a time where there are governments in place that are trying to take away our visibility and that right to take care of one another,\u201d Turani elaborated.<\/p>\n

This story is part of a Brooklyn Paper series highlighting the winners of this year\u2019s Spark Prize<\/a>. This year\u2019s recipients \u2014 named for Brooklyn Org\u2019s mission to spark lasting social change in Brooklyn \u2014 are the Asiyah Women\u2019s Center, Back Trans Femmes in the Arts (BTFA), the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project<\/a> (S.T.O.P.), The B.R.O. Experience Foundation<\/a> and YVote Brooklyn Org. They will be honored at the 2026 Brooklyn Spark Breakfast on March 3 at Barclays Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asiyah Women\u2019s Center, one of the winners of the Brooklyn Org\u2019s 2026 Spark Prize, is New York City\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[60905,60906,60907,6419,60908,98,100,99,13709,58015,4207,3290,15271,2907,60909,3415,9,24,12,370,63,60910,3579,10604,58017,8299,60911],"class_list":{"0":"post-145283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-2026-spark-prize","9":"tag-amemsa","10":"tag-asiyah-womens-center","11":"tag-assistance","12":"tag-bipoc","13":"tag-brooklyn","14":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","15":"tag-brooklyn-news","16":"tag-brooklyn-org","17":"tag-brooklyn-org-spark-prize","18":"tag-children","19":"tag-domestic-violence","20":"tag-grand","21":"tag-housing","22":"tag-intimate-partner-violence","23":"tag-jobs","24":"tag-new-york","25":"tag-new-york-city","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-newsletter","28":"tag-nyc","29":"tag-shaniyat-turani","30":"tag-shelter","31":"tag-snap","32":"tag-spark-prize","33":"tag-support","34":"tag-womens-center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}